Hawksadventures

And ive been back to the office for just about a month now, trying to finish up and get the last three weeks of the vacation up here. Since the waterproof Olympus camera i left Sweden with died in Capurgana and the new waterproof Olympus camera i got i Panama died within 2 weeks of me getting it, it will be a bit short on pictures.

Anyway, after actually getting in to Panama city on the evening of the 16th, more or less 8 hours before Ryan was arriving (yes, i did make my deadline, take that puerto obaldia). ended up in a hostel down town, Backpacker hostel with a big B, really didnt feel for a cramped place with backpackers but decided to take it for the night (Staff was awesome!), wait in Ryan and find something else the next day.

Me and Frenchy went out for food and drinks and taking a look at the city, and it was pretty dead being Tuesday night.
The missing teammember arrived around 2 AM.

next day we managed to get some rooms in a small hotel in the same building, it wasnt open yet, so there was no other people living there, no front desk service, we just got keys to come and go as we wanted.
Just the way i want it!

The next few days was filled with Sneaking in to the pool at the Casino a block away (i love being Gringo sometimes), trying to drink all the Coronas in the pool bar, taking naps, going out trying to get some crazy nightlife going.
When being used to Colombia, and Colombian nightlife, i just had to realize there was nothing Panama City could really offer, and packed with North americans pretty much everywhere.

After a few days, it was time to head up to Bocas del Toro, Cheap ass as i am, we dicided to take the night bus up  there. but the night we where supposed to leave, it turned out to be a pretty good party by the pool during the day (and it was the super bowl on TV) so we “missed” the bus.
Turned out to be a really good night out with more than a little crazy stuff.

Anyway, we had a deadline to make it up to Bocas, so the next evening we crawled on to the bus (oh, why dont i ever learn, its never worth to take the night bus just to save 50 buck).

Bocas, mm,,, Pretty good nature wise, but not even close as good as the San Blas, And if possible, even more cramped with gringos. I stayed at a place with the sweet name Mar y Iguana (get it?)

After a few days of beach, some rain, good food, My birthday and Ryans Ribs i decided to head back to Ciudad Panama for a few last days of the Casino Pool before hitting FT Lauderdale and do that place Ryan style!

Here is some of the few pictures i managed to get between my dying cameras.

Ill try to get my ass around to post the FT Lauderdale post before the week is over, lets see how that goes!

So, was slowly heading from Turbo, via Capurgana (small village on the border to Panama) to panama city. trip started with a 2.5 hour trip on a speed boat from Turbo to Capurgana. or i would call it the back killer. 3X200 hp engine on a small boat jumping on the waves for two hours before we reached Capurgana, i dont think anyone got of that boat feeling “OK”. back hurt, ass hurt, arms hurt, but i made it bearable together with a Canadian guy and two bottles of Aguardiente.

Capurgana was nice, but not as nice as i was thinking. it was really a carribean beach town, hot, small and electricity only available during night.

This was also where i learned that my waterproof camera wasnt really waterproof. so  this post is going to lack the majority of pictures.

Anyway, i was heading up to panama city to meet up with Ryan on the 18th of january, so after i few days in capurgana it was time to start heading in to Panama.

route was supposed to be Capurgana – puerto obaldia – flight to panama city.
well once in Puerto obaldia (first outpost in Panama) after taken care of the customs and the immigracion it was time to sort out the flight to panama city. then i realized there was only 3 flights a week, and all flights was full for the next week.

well that sucked!
next option was a 7 hour speedboat trip to Carti (porvenir) and then a three hour car ride in to Panama city.

The only problem was that when asking when the next speedboat was leaving you couldnt get a frigging answer.
-”is there a boat leaving today?”
-”yes, in one hour”
after an hour
-”So, is the boat leaving?”
-”yes,  in two hours”
after two hours
-”so, is the boat leaving”
-”we cant find the captain”
when the captain shows up
-”are we leaving?”
-”i have no gasoline, we will leave later”
later that day, when i see the captain again
-”so, do you have gasoline now?”
-”we leave tomorrow”

So basicly, they had no fucking clue what they where doing or when, and you where stuck in the streetcorner because if you left, and the boat was really leaving, then you would miss the boat. no schedule, no information, 10 different answers.
pretty much as Costeño as it can get.
got stuck in that shitty border town for two nights, and spent 2 days sitting staring at a street corner!

Anyway, once we actually got the word that the boat WOULD leave, we got the info to be ready at the street corner at 6am, so we could leave early. well, once i woke up and got to the street corner at 6. it was dark, no fucking way we whare going to leave at the dark, so basicly the costeños just said a time to make us happy. another few hours in the street corner before we actually got on our way at nineish in the morning.

Then we basically followed the coast up Panama, from native (kuna) village to village re-fueling and heading for the next village. i was really happy i had my sun block 50 with me, because the sun was pounding down, and there was no shelter for the sun on the boat.

Finally made it to porvenir (Carti) and got a truck to take us in to Panama city.

Here is some few pictures that i got from the canadian guy, and from my cell ph.

Here for a while.
Tonight i heading for Turbo and then arrive in capurgana tomorrow around mid day for some days of quiet time in a village with no roads, no cars and most probably, no internet!

Crossing the darian gap by speedboat and aim to be in panama city on the 17th or 18th.
Hasta luego!

Posted on the run….

sooo, this vacation started up little wild. Standing in line buying schampoo at “willy´s” i recieve a email saying “your flight has been canceled and you have been rebooked on a flight leaving 12:05″

Six hours later than planned, and thats not an option.

saturday night was planned on going out with vanessa “loca” Rojas.
I would not miss that for anything in the world. after spending half an hour on the phone explaining to air france that arriving midnight on a saturday night wasnt an option for me, i managed to get them to book me on another flight bringing me to Miami at 6pm,
plenty of time to hit the clubs!

Aaaany way, half way thru the packing my neigbour showed up outside my door, wanting to party. one thing turned to another, to loads of wine, to rum with blueberrys, to Glögg to me coocking and when im writing this, im at schiphool wondering if i did finnish packing, and if i did lock the door. Who knows. only thing i know is that it was a good friday night, i THINK i packed everything, i THINK i turned the stove off. i KNOW that i have my passport, and i KNOW i have my credit cards,,,,,so what can go wrong?